Trail conditions and number of scratches. Of course, with being on the trail, I have been asked about my opinion on this subject. I have seen the trail first hand, bumped my snowmachine across it. Let me start off before the race. I, like some of the mushers, sure had reservations about the trail. But after all it is the Iditarod Trail. I made a few phone calls, gathered as much information as I could and braced for the worst. And the worst of what I had seen in 10 years I got. But in the grand scheme of things, in Iditarod history, the burn has been very barren before, I just had not seen it like that. 2007 was pretty bad too, but not for as long.
From a musher side, training conditions have been everything but ideal. Most mushers had to contend with pretty dismal conditions for most of the winter. That gave them a good opportunity to get their dogs used to those conditions. It was impressive to see well conditioned teams could do out there. Specially well behaved teams, who listen when called to a stop. Who do not bark and lunge in a frenzy when it is time to wait. That was for sure an essential thing, while navigating the difficult trail.
Iditarod is weather dependent and there is little the organization can do about that. For the entrants that is a given. It is like any other sport which is weather dependent, be it sailing or mountaineering. In certain conditions everybody can sail a certain regatta. But once the windspeed goes up and the weather deteriorates some sailors better hail for a safe haven. Yes the number of scratches to this point is high. But there is a common denominator. Most of them are not the most athletic people. And I do not mean this negative. They are either not the youngest anymore, or they are not in the best of shape. In good conditions, those mushers stand a pretty good chance to finish this race. And even in good conditions, that is not an easy feat. But conditions this year were not good, they had not been good all winter, many races were cancelled. Each musher had to evaluate themselves pretty carefully before the race, if they thought they were fit enough to make it. I admire the mushers who still started and admire mushers like Jim Lanier even more, who “ pulled the plug “ before he got banged up too bad. It is important to know, when to say “ no “. Not every year is equal, and the cards do not always fall into place perfectly.
To me, condition wise I think Iditarod did the absolute right thing with starting in Willow. The trail has been excellent, more hard packed than usual in most places. Teams are moving faster down the trail than ever before on the northern route. Lots of additional trail work had been done, bridges build across open water on Happy River, plywood lined the trail on a overflow section to Rainy just to name a few. But the sections which are always difficult and snowless, were even more difficult this year. That is the name of the game, when you deal with mother nature. Looking at the lead teams, who also drive the biggest strings in the race, they clearly prove that the trail conditions were just another bump on the trip to Nome. Simply this years trail was not for everybody. Looking at how the dogs are looking, I can only say the same thing: They look excellent for the most part, nothing out of the ordinary. After all I think the dogs do not care that much if they run across dirt, as they are pretty used to that pulling an ATV all fall long. Just little did they know, that their musher was bouncing all over the place on the sled. If you have not done so, check out the Gopro footage on the insider of Jeff King going down Dalzell Gorge. Its worth the trip!
In the meantime, we are waiting for the next musher to get to Cripple. Martin Buser is on his way from Ophir and than a whole big group is leaving Takotna. The morning will be a busy here.
